Support our #filmmakers: Jolie East-Miji’s “B-City” Second Season: All about the Crew Meeting

Introduction

In my previous post , I documented a Table Read in advance of production for Season 2 of Jolie East-Miji’s webseries “B-City”, a meeting primarily for actors. This post documents a Crew Meeting, and I am one of the crew. The Crew Meeting was held on August 27, 2017.

Read on for more details.

The Crew Meeting

There are many crew meetings over the course of a project. This particular crew meeting was held to ensure everything is in place so that the actual filming can begin as scheduled. This includes ensuring that each crew member knows their responsibilities, and that the appropriate equipment is available. On a project the size of “B-City”, not every crew position under the sun will be filled or is even necessary. Click here for an exhaustive list of crew roles.

Who is a “crew member” on a project? Generally, the crew are those on a project excluding the cast (actors) and the producers (the ones who own a portion of either the film company or the film’s intellectual property rights).

Here is a summary of what transpired during the meeting.

Jolie presented an overview of B-City, including a brief bio of Jolie; info about the production company; episode overview; funding methods; list of crew members and positions yet to be filled; shooting schedule overview; and crew payment schedule.

Those present introduced themselves, where they live, mentioning the crew role, and fun fact. Some are new to Season 2.

Similar to what she did during the Table Read meeting, producer Morgen Whiteman discussed paperwork required to be filled out and signed by the crew, including a Yes/No contract (about being paid), crew deal memo, contact information, and food allergies notification.

Morgen informed the attendees that Slack is the tool being used for project management – all should be registered on the tool and use it to access applicable documents and updated information. She explained the layout and navigation of Slack.

Morgen explained the tentative shooting schedule and explained a spreadsheet showing what episodes/scenes/locations would be shot on a given shooting day.

Morgen showed a Google Maps presentation showing the actual shooting (physical) locations corresponding to the locations cited in the script.

It was emphasized that collaboration among crew members will be required. One critical need will be in the area of lighting setup.

The crew hierarchy was discussed – who reports to whom. Jolie and Morgen are at the top of the list. Personally, as the Key Production Assistant (PA) , there will be two PAs that will report to me.

Set etiquette (“Setiquette”) was discussed. This included communicating among the people on set; ensuring directions are understood; problem resolution; handling mistakes; handling of equipment; being “Quiet on the set” when shooting sound; electricity; food; phones.

The equipment list was discussed, focusing on cameras/lenses, lighting, and sound. Lots of knowledgeable discussion. The people present are experienced in these areas. It was determined what equipment still has to be procured.

The scripts were briefly gone over, emphasizing what will be shot on shooting day 1.

Check out these photographs from the meeting. All are from the author’s collection.

Conclusion

This crew meeting was very productive. We learned how important it is for all to work together and the proper way to conduct oneself on set. There were very technically-knowledgeable people present. I am really looking forward to the start of filming. I will continue to document the progression of “B-City” season 2.

Please provide your thoughts and questions in the comments. I would really enjoy hearing from you. If you have a topic in mind you would like me to cover, please let me know